Recorded at Temple Studios 12th-14th June 2012; Harps recorded at The Turning House, 31st May 2012Percussion, woodwind and trumpet overdubs recorded at Tatami Studios, 2013Tracks 1 and 5 recorded at HipKit Studios, 2011

Since I restarted reviewing for Jazz Views near the end of 2014 (I say “restarted” as I enjoyed writing for the site for awhileabout 10 years ago, not long after its inception), I have been sent a fair number of albums to review. Some of them have been excellent, others good, one or two mediocre. Edentide didn’t arrive on my doorstep in the usual way but was given to me by Noel Langley at Kings Place in January this year where we both attended IssieBarratt’s hugely memorable 50th Birthday Concert which I reviewed for the site. It took me a little time to get around to giving the album a spin. When I did, I was completely blown away. If Jazz Views adopted a star-system I would have had no hesitation in awarding it 5 stars.

I have often bumped into Noel on commercial studio dates down the years, but I can’t remember having a conversation with him - not before January 24th this year that is. When you’re one of maybe 50 players on a film or recording date, communication with one’s colleagues is often no more than a nod and a smile with perhaps an occasional “hi” thrown in. In truth, I had never really given Noel a second glance. I knew he was good as he wouldn’t be on the date in the first place if he wasn’t, but in my mind he was just another member of the trumpet section, a section often led by the magisterial Derek Watkins who sadly left this mortal coil two years ago for the big band in the sky. After listening to EdentideI realised that, far from being just a jobbing musician, Noel was an incredibly powerful creative musical force. (There is a moral to be learnt here: one must guard against the perils of preconception as one never knows whether there’s a hidden genius within our midst)

Langley’s press release says this: “A lifetime in the making, Edentidereveals, for the first time, the true voice of Noel Langley as a composer, arranger and soloist”. I understand this sentiment completely having taken a ridiculously long time to put my own head above the parapet -I waited until 1999 before releasing my debut album, Mountains of Fire. I was 48. But we are not here to talk about me.

Langley waited until he was 50 before revealing his true voice – and what a unique voice it’s turned out to be! Sometimes it takes almost a lifetime to realise what one’s true path in life is. Making others sound good is fine up to a point, but it is definitely not the be all and end all. Reaping handsome financial rewards is not enough. Mark was spot on when he proclaimed “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (St.Mark 8:36). Langley has really found his soul on Edentide. The album reveals Langley to be a phenomenal solo trumpeter, flugelhorn player,composer and arranger. Jazz is an essential part of his DNA but like his idol, fellow trumpeter/ flugelist / composer/arranger Kenny Wheeler, his music is not limited by jazz. You won’t hear any formulaic head, blowing on the changes, final head scenarios here. That’s all been done to death anyway. The important thing is the music’s emotional message. Whether it’s called jazz, rock, fusion, contemporary classical, minimalist, free improv is irrelevant. All these elements are to be found on the CD but the music never sounds a mishmash. On the contrary, Edentideis a glorious synthesis of contrasting but compatible components. There is a perfect equilibrium between tightly structured composition and free flowing spontaneous improvisation on the album. The same equilibrium is omnipresent in Wheeler’s work but Langley is certainly no Wheeler clone. The beautiful tone, gorgeously sculpted melodies, poignant harmonies and vibrant rhythms may be redolent of his Canadian mentor but Langley is, nevertheless, very much his own man, his musical imagination seemingly limitless. He has the ability to create the most magical of soundscapes, often blending conventional Western instruments with exotic ones like bray harp, Chinese wire harp and udu, and there is a place for everyday “noise” too. Talking of the title track Langley explains: “The rhythm track features mixing bowls, rolling pins, dustbin lids, a tea towel and some creaky floorboards – plus an enormous bunch of keys collected from every house I’ve ever lived in”.The unification of music and noise and the electronic manipulations of sound are the very stuff of musiqueconcrète (Stockhausen and Varèse were two of the leading exponents of this genre) and Langley ploughs this furrow with great success on the album. His notes on Track 2 are very instructive regarding his modus operandi: “The Turning House” is a spontaneous composition, crafted through improvisation with harpist Ruth Wall. Here Ruth played a mediaeval bray harp, with its buzzing strings tuned to an Eastern mode. There is a bit of reverse engineering in there too. I surrounded the trumpet microphone with four of Ruth’s harps so that their strings would resonate in sympathy with the trumpet. What sounds like bells in the introduction, is actually captured resonance from the gaps between my trumpet statements. I was in effect playing the harp with my breath”. The piece is a magically atmospheric miniature, the perfect antidote to the substantial opener, “For The Uncommon Man”. Many commentators have considered this to be based on Copland’s iconic “Fanfare For The Common Man” but in reality the composition is pure Langley, though the heroic grandeur of its second section is not a million miles away in mood from the Copland. The moment when the dark modal minor colours of the opening are suddenly transfigured into a blaze of multi-tracked trumpetsunlight in D Flat Major is both thrilling and inspired.Wall’s creative harp playing is central to the music’s make-up in these opening two tracks, and it is no surprise to hear her setting up the most infectious of riffs at the beginning of Track 3, “Sven’s Island” (in fact one of the glories of the album is the presence of the supremely talented Wall). Soon it’s Laurence Cottle’s bass guitar, AsafSirkis’ drums, Alcyona Mick’s piano and Keith Fairbairn’s vibraphone that take centre-stage, the music seething with kinetic energy. It’s fast, furious fusion, quite manic in its intensity, and when the brass take up the groove the temperature reaches boiling point. The storm eventually blows itself out. Calm is restored as Wall intones the word “OK”, reminding us that all will be well in the end. The track ends with a quietly hypnotic harp ostinato, the music evanescing into nothingness. Mayhem has been replaced by a magical peace. Quite beautiful! Anyone who isn’t totally transfixed by “Sven’s Island” must surely be an insentient being.And so the emotional rollercoaster continues unabated throughout. Of the eight tracks which seamlessly and organically flow into one another, six are self-penned.“Glass” is a wondrous re-imagining of Graham Fitkin’s poignant piece for saxophone and piano, replete with otherworldly harmonies from the Stealth Horns, an impressive Lyle Mays-like piano solo from Mick and an ironic Mahlerianoompah band waltz. “Four For One” is a ninety second Kenny Wheeler baroque- inspired mini masterpiece. We are transported into the magisterial world of Gabrielli and Bach, Wheeler adding his own inimitable harmonic spice to the musical equation. Langley’s comments about this track are illuminating: “For For One” was composed by acclaimed Canadian trumpet and flugelhorn player, Kenny Wheeler. It’s the second movement of a trumpet quartet that Kenny kindly gave to Yazz Ahmed, my partner, and me. Here I’m playing all four parts, hence the title. The overdubs were not recorded in some great church as they sound, but in ace producer Ashley Slater’s bedroom studio. Kenny is my favourite trumpet player. Whenever I go to hear him play, I have to make sure I have some tissues to hand. Kenny’s music and playing will often move me to tears”. I was privileged to be in the audience at Wheeler’s memorial concert last Autumn (see my review under “Live Reviews”). Noel and Yazz were amongst the quartet of trumpeters who performed the piece there, and I am not ashamed to admit that I had a few tears in my own eyes when the beauty of Kenny’s music became almost too painful to bear.“On HaastBeach” is, in Langley’s words, “an attempt to conjure up a tribal gathering held around a giant driftwood fire. A ritual of structure and ceremony that eventually gives way to primal dancing conveyed with wild abandonment. Based on three layers of seven beats played simultaneously, the winding, hypnotic seven-flute melody is layered over vibraphone, harp, piano and electric piano-all anchored by double bass and tuba”. It begins with the sound of the sea gently lapping the shore but soon the music is swirling demonically in a whirlpool of multiple rhythms, the harmony possessing a distinctly Middle-Eastern flavour.“Minami” is a lovely track, full of folky charm and malleable harmony. We are told that it was partly inspired by the music of Henry Mancini, but Langley’s emotional reach is wider and deeper than Mancini’s. Mancini wrote great tunes and wonderful film scores but Langley,like Wheeler, comes from an altogether more spiritual space.The final and title track is intensely spiritual. It begins in a state of mystical abstraction with a spontaneous improvisation from Dickensen and Langley, bells and gongs courtesy of the kitchen sink tolling ominously, a Mustang P51 fighter plane whirring in the background. A lilting section in 13/8 ensues, Langley’s flugel floating beautifully on top of the swaying rhythm groove. The album ends with an unadorned trumpet statement of “Crimond” composed by Jessie Seymour Irvine to the words of the 23rd Psalm, “The Lord Is My Shepherd”, Dickenson supplying the simple Hammond organ accompaniment, kitchen utensils tinkling like magic stars. Noel was just four when he joined the Salvation Army on cornet. He would have played the tune many times. It obviously has a very special place in his heart.Edentide is a very special album, Cliché-free, it is sonically rich, structurally sound, brilliantly orchestrated, rhythmically exciting, harmonically sophisticated, immensely eclectic and deeply emotional. All the musicians play like angels directed by the archangel Noel. This multi-coloured, multi-textured, multi-layered CD has been produced with love, patience, expertise and great attention to detail. Kenny Dickenson and Ashley Slater have helped enormously in this regard. The recording has a heavenly luminosity about it, John Hiseman, Tom Jenkins and Robin Morrison all playing their part in the project’s success.It is my hope that Noel’s Edentide will receive the national and international recognition it deserves, and that his solo, composing and arranging career will go from strength to strength.

Reviewed by Geoff Eales

Jazz Views is proud to be assosciated with the Watermill Inn & Brewery